Mount Sinai entices top doctors with no-interest New York City mortgages

Dr. Burton Drayer, a radiology professor, got a $700,000 loan in 2008 for one upper East Side apartment while living at another home in the area, which he'd bought in 1997 with Mount Sinai as his guarantor. (Nicholas Fevelo for the New York Daily News)

They came to cure — but they made a killing.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine lured top medical talent from around the country by doling out large interest-free loans that allowed coveted professors to score big in the New York real estate market.

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Since 2008, the highly ranked Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has given six- and seven-figure mortgages to at least three sought-after physicians, according to records obtained by the Daily News.

The tender loving care extends to the payback as well.

Dr. Ron Hoffman, a well-known oncologist, received a $1 million, no-interest mortgage in 2008 but doesn’t have to make a single payment until he quits teaching at Mount Sinai or sells his Brooklyn condo. The no-pay mortgage deal saves Hoffman $5,368 a month, says a wealth management advisor.

Well-known oncologist Ron Hoffman got a $1 million, no-interest mortgage in 2008 but doesn't have to make a single payment until he quits teaching at Mount Sinai or sells his Brooklyn condo, according to a signed contract filed with the Department of Finance. Any profit on the sale would belong to Hoffman.

The no-pay mortgage deal saves Hoffman $5,368 a month, said Warren Goldberg, a mortgage and wealth adviser who reviewed the contract.

"No interest has to be paid, and there's no definite repayment terms unless the doctor defaults in some way," Goldberg said. Hoffman declined to comment.

Dr. David Adams, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery, got a $1 million loan in 2008, when he bought a $4.8 million condo on the upper East Side. According to tax documents through 2011, he has made no payments, either on interest or the principal. (Mitral Foundation)

The medical school has written other generous housing prescriptions.

Dr. David Adams, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery, got a $1 million loan in 2008, when he bought a $4.8 million condo on the upper East Side.

He declined to comment, but according to tax documents through 2011 — the last year publicly available — he has made no payments, either on interest or the principal.

In 1997, radiology professor Dr. Burton Drayer bought a unit at this building at 965 5th Ave. — with Mount Sinai as his guarantor. He sold the apartment last year for $7.5 million, records show. (Sam Costanza)

The same was true for a $700,000 loan in 2008 to Dr. Burton Drayer, a radiology professor.

Drayer got the loan while living at 965 Fifth Ave. on the upper East Side — an apartment he purchased in 1997 with Mount Sinai serving as his guarantor.

He sold that place last year for $7.5 million, records show. Neither he nor the school would say whether the loan was actually paid back.

Moving on up: Dr. Burton Drayer now lives in this luxury building on Fifth Ave. near E. 102 St., close to Mount Sinai — which gave the professor of radiology a $700,000 loan to buy the apartment. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News)

Insiders said such deals are common in the cutthroat business of attracting and keeping top medical talent — although it might not sit well with students who shell out $43,000 a year in tuition for the school.

A spokeswoman defended the teaching hospital's loan practices. Such deals are legal as long as they are reported to the Internal Revenue Service and approved by the hospital's board.

"The program is an important recruitment and retention tool in light of the extraordinarily high cost of housing in the New York metropolitan area," said spokeswoman Dorie Klissas.

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Mount Sinai's loan practices are legal as long as they are reported to the Internal Revenue Service and approved by the hospital’s board. 'The program is an important recruitment and retention tool in light of the extraordinarily high cost of housing in the New York metropolitan area,' spokeswoman Dorie Klissas said.

Klissas wouldn't answer questions about specific loans, but said the "housing loan program" was similar to those at other institutions and are "consistent with IRS regulations."

It's not the first time sweetheart deals between nonprofits and star employees have made headlines.

Earlier this summer, a report of generous loans by NYU-Langone prompted Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) to demand records about the university's compensation and loans to top staff members.

The subject even came up during U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew's Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year. Lew, a former NYU executive vice president, got $1.5 million in loans from the university during his years there, $440,000 of which was forgiven.

Goldberg said there was "nothing illegal or immoral" in Mount Sinai's cushy contracts for top docs — as long as the loans were eventually paid back.